Haaretz tells story of Palestinian family viciously attacked by Israeli soldiers

NAZARETH, (PIC)– The Israeli newspaper Haaretz released a story describing the cruelty of the raids launched by the Israeli army on Palestinian homes at nighttime and called it “nights of horror.”

The report, written by journalist Gideon Levy, shed light on one of these nights that occurred to the family of martyr Samir Awad in Budrus village, west of Ramallah city.

“This has been one of the difficult nights which the Palestinians experience every day in the West Bank,” Levy started his story.

“Last week, Israeli soldiers occupied one of the homes in Budrus village for two house under cover of darkness, kicking, beating and destroying; however, that time, they overreacted and raided the house of a bereaved Palestinian family whose 16-year old son Samir was shot dead with three live bullets four months ago by other soldiers,” according to his narration.

They shot Samir in his side, head and back when he tried to escape from an ambush near the segregation wall after he threw stones towards the fence, he added.

An officer from the central command described the incident, then, as unfortunate, but the most unfortunate what happened later to the bereaved family of the boy, he stated.

One of the family’s neighbors told Haaretz that he heard an Israeli officer ordering his soldiers to raid the house of the family without showing any mercy, and the soldiers acted accordingly.

They were a force of about 11 jeeps, 30 soldiers and a few dogs who arrived at two o’clock after midnight and encircled the house before they broke into it by force, and fired stun grenades through the windows and inside the place, the neighbor said.

In the house, there were the mother, her husband Ahmed and eight of their children and every one of them woke up to the sounds of explosion caused by the grenades as the soldiers were storming the house without saying anything or explaining what they wanted.

During the attack, the soldiers suddenly assaulted the mother, Sedqiya, and injured her after they dragged her over the floor by her hair, and physically and verbally abused her, while four of her daughters suffered different injuries from the stun grenades.

Levy noted that the father already suffers from a herniated disc and failed to stand on his feet during the attack, adding that the soldiers kept kicking him and sprayed pepper gas on his face, and then severely beaten one of his daughters when she hastened to give her father a glass of water.

On the roof of the house, according to the story, their son Abd, who live in Bilin most days of the week, but he slept in his family’s house that night, was sleeping when soldiers violently beat him, threw him off the roof and then dragged him into one of the toilets and fired a stun grenades inside it.

The intensive use of stun grenades during the raid charred the interior of the house and caused black stains everywhere and widespread damage, but luckily the family documented the sabotage with footage.

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Quds foundation: Israel planning to divide Aqsa mosque

CAIRO, (PIC)– The international Quds institution has warned of Israeli plans to legitimize dividing the Aqsa mosque between Muslims and Jews.

The institution said in a statement after its board of directors met in Cairo that Israel was trying to impose such a division then legitimize it in parliament.

It called on all religious bodies, especially the Christian ones, to immediately act to defend Christian holy shrines and Christians in Jerusalem.

The board of directors charged the Israeli regime was trying to weaken the Jerusalemite community and to obstruct projects aimed at boosting its steadfastness.

It said that all workers for Jerusalem and Palestine should re-consider means of supporting Jerusalem amidst such challenges and based on accurate understanding of priorities for Jerusalem and the Jerusalemites.

A delegation of the board of directors had met with the Egyptian president Dr. Mohammed Morsi, Sheikh of Al-Ahzar Dr. Mohammed Al-Tayyib, general director of Muslim Brotherhood Dr. Mohammed Badi, information minister Salah Abdulmaqsud, and the Wasat party led by Abul Ela Madi.

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Arab Knesset members and lawyers rally in J’lem against Negev transfer plan

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Arab Knesset members participated on Sunday in a rally organized by the Arab lawyers outside the headquarters of the Israeli premier in the occupied western side of Jerusalem.

They rallied in protest at Prawer-Begin plan which is aimed at transferring the Bedouin natives of the Negev from their villages.

The lawmakers stated in speeches during the event that this plan poses a threat to the future of about 200,000 Palestinian Bedouins who make up 32 percent of the total population of the Negev region.

They said that the Negev Bedouins are marginalized and live in miserable conditions, while the Israeli settlers, living there, enjoy a luxurious life without any restrictions.

They demanded the Israeli government to recognize all Bedouin villages in the Negev and the right of their residents to the land of their ancestors.

They also called for developing these villages instead of demolishing them and stopping dealing discriminately with its people.

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IOA extends remand of Jerusalemite, imposes house arrest on 13 others

OCCUPIED JERSUALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) imposed fines and house arrest on 13 Jerusalemites including a 12-year-old child.

Human rights sources said that the Israeli police imposed 500 shekels fine one each of the 13 Jerusalemites and ordered them held in house arrest away from their homes in the Old City of Jerusalem for two weeks.

The central court, which passed the rulings, decided to extend the remand of Jerusalemite Iyad Al-Awar, 42.

All released Jerusalemites were arrested at dawn Thursday from Saadiya suburb, while the child Muhran Jabari, 12, was arrested at dawn Friday.

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IOA bans call for prayers 55 times last month

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) banned the Adhan or call for prayers at the Ibrahimi mosque in Al-Khalil 55 times last month.

Tayseer Abu Snene, the director of Awkaf department in Al-Khalil, said on Sunday that the IOA banned the Adhan at the pretext it was disturbing Jewish settlers in the “usurped section of the mosque”.

The IOA step is in absolute disregard of Muslim beliefs and holy shrines.

Furthermore, Israeli occupation forces blackmail Muslims and thoroughly search them at electronic gates and barriers before entering the mosque and the Old City of Al-Khalil.

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IOA serves new demolition notifications in Silwan

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation authority served demolition notices to a number of Palestinian houses in Silwan suburb in occupied Jerusalem on Sunday.

Wadi Hilwe information center said in a statement that Jerusalem municipality teams, escorted by police forces, distributed the orders, claiming that those houses were built without permit.

The center said that the teams delivered the notifications in Bustan suburb and photographed a number of other houses in the same suburb and in Wadi Hilwe and Bir Ayoub suburbs.

Mazen Ode, owner of one of the threatened houses, told the center that the demolition notice was glued on his front door and that of his brother’s.

He said that the teams photographed both houses, adding that his house, which provides shelter for ten of his family members, was built in 2003 and that he was still paying fines for its construction till the present day.

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Palestinian farmer wounded in IOF shooting

GAZA, (PIC)– A Palestinian farmer was wounded east of Jabaliya, north of the Gaza Strip, on Sunday morning at the hands of Israeli occupation forces (IOF), medical sources said.

Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, the health ministry’s spokesman, told the PIC reporter that a citizen in his twenties was moderately wounded in his foot near the eastern cemetery in Jabaliya.

The IOF shooting is the latest incident of a series of violations of the calm agreement concluded last November in Cairo under Egyptian patronage.

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Price Tag gangs burn Palestinian agricultural lands in Ramallah

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– Palestinian local sources reported that the settlers’ price tag gangs set fire to dozens of dunums of Palestinian agricultural lands west of Ramallah, in the central West Bank.

Eyewitnesses told PIC that Jewish settlers from the Nhaliel settlement, west of Ramallah, burned on Sunday Palestinian lands planted with olive trees in the area of Dhour in the village of Beitillu, and that teams of the Palestinian civil defense arrived to the place and succeeded to extinguish the fire.

The village of Beitillu, west of Ramallah, has been exposed to repeated attacks by settlers, especially from the neighboring Hallamish settlement.

Farmers from Beitillu and from other neighboring villages have been also prevented from using and benefiting from the nearby springs of water.

The “Price Tag” gangs have been carrying out repeated attacks against Palestinian civilians and properties in the West Bank and the occupied city of Jerusalem. They also attack places of worship from churches to mosques.

Dozens of Jewish settlers attacked the area of ​​Ain Ayoub last month, west of Ramallah, and burned Palestinian cars and houses under the protection of the occupation military forces.